Blue silk corset: 1851

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Blue silk corset. A pale blue silk corset, with whalebone used throughout to shape the corset. Two shallow basques are applied at hip level either side of the busks and continue upwards and over the hips to the back; three buttons, covered in the same silk, are sewn in vertical rows on each side of the basques, front and back. It was made especially for display purposes at the Great Exhibition.